DLA Piper has advised Israel Chemicals Limited (ICL), one of the world’s leading companies in the extraction and production of special chemicals in the fields of foods, agriculture and engineered materials, on the acquisition of the Hagesüd Group (“Hagesüd”), a German producer of high-quality spice blends and food additives for meat processing. Final conclusion of the transaction still requires the approval of the responsible cartel offices. After the takeover, Hagesüd will become part of the ICL Business Unit Food Specialties.
Dr Kirsten Girnth, partner at DLA Piper, said: "It is a great pleasure working for ICL because we now know the teams, products and markets well. When working with this client, we have the opportunity to demonstrate our strengths – a wide legal base and broad international coverage."
Oliver Fausten, Manager of Strategy and M&A with ICL, said: "The takeover of Hagesüd provides our Food unit with an additional platform for growth and profitability. The sales and marketing organisations of the two companies have a similar structure and are aimed at the customer-specific adaptation of innovative products for the global meat industry. Once again we have been able to rely on the well-established cooperation of our advisers in this transaction as well. DLA Piper has precisely the network and the flexibility that we need."
Partner Dr Kirsten Girnth led the DLA Piper team, alongside senior associate Dr Birka Stroschein (both Corporate, Frankfurt). Partners Dr Jan Dreyer (Antitrust, Cologne), Pascal Kremp (Employment, Munich) and Carol Umhöfer (Intellectual Property and Technology, Paris), counsels Prof Dr Falko Tappen (Tax, Frankfurt) and Prof Dr Fabian Hinrichs (Real Estate, Frankfurt), associates Dr Philipp Oppermann, Niklas Mangels (both Corporate, Frankfurt), Verena Pianka (Antitrust, Cologne), Marc Fellner (Tax, Frankfurt), Florian Olms (Employment, Munich), Martin Chassany and Emilie Vuillin (both Corporate, Paris) also advised.
The takeover of Hagesüd complements the existing product range of ICL Food Specialties by adding further ingredients and spice blends for the meat and poultry processing industry, combines know-how and strong brands and expands the joint customer offering.
ICL is an international chemical company headquartered in Tel Aviv (Israel) and in 2011 generated a turnover of just under US$ 7.1 billon with some 11,000 employees. The Group’s key business areas are agriculture, foodstuffs, water and special materials.
The Hagesüd Group is based in Hemmingen and has additional locations in Dortmund, Ottensoos and Alsace. The companies within the Group employ a total of 200 people.
